Incarcerated writer Kwaneta Harris writes that after seven years in solitary confinement,  “Reading has been my lifeline… after seven years in solitary confinement. With my earplugs jammed in deep—sometimes too deep—I’ve read books, magazines, and newspapers and found respite amid tortuous conditions. That includes no air conditioning, TV, or recreation.” But at the Lane Murray Unit in Texas, where Harris is incarcerated, some women in solitary are denied even this respite, because they can read very little, if at all. Many of them are transfers from the Juvenile Justice Department and end up in solitary confinement due to their behavioral histories. Although federal law requires incarcerated people under 21 to have guaranteed access to education, educational programming is often a low priority for those in isolation. When “school” is provided at all, it comes in the form of packets of educational materials dropped at the cell door. For the large number of women unable to read the instructions, these packets are entirely useless without teachers. Additionally, people in solitary confinement often have mental health conditions and learning disabilities that make accessing education even more difficult. Harris describes standing at the vent in her cell, reading aloud to her young neighbors. Slate 

• • •

Nine years after her release from federal prison, Evie Litwok still suffers from migraines, vertigo, and claustrophobia caused by the seven weeks she spent in solitary confinement. Pamela Winn, who had a miscarriage in federal prison and was placed in isolation for eight months, also still feels the effects decades later. These women and many others have joined a growing group of survivors of solitary voicing their support of the new federal End Solitary Confinement Act, aimed at banning the practice in federal facilities. Truthout | The Federal Anti-Solitary Task Force, a coalition of groups backing the End Solitary Confinement Act, has launched a new website to provide information about the use of solitary confinement in federal facilities and support action toward passage of the act. End Torture Now

• • •

On July 28, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division submitted a “statement of interest” in an ongoing federal class-action lawsuit against the state of Louisiana for transferring about 80 children to a former death row facility at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. “If deprived of promised mental health and educational services and if subjected to isolation and other dangerous living conditions, youth in Angola are likely to suffer serious and irreparable harm to their physical and mental health,” the DOJ states. Louisiana Weekly | Read the full Statement of Interest. U.S. DOJ 

• • •

The effects of the climate crisis often seem distant from the daily reality of incarcerated people. However, the intense heat waves and rise in wildfires during recent summers have begun to put things in perspective. A recent study from the Public Library of Science showed that a 10-degree increase in temperature results in a 6.7 percent increase in death for incarcerated people and a 22 percent increase in suicides for three days following extreme heat. Alabama Reflector | In Texas, incarcerated people have “a front-row seat to the unfolding crisis,” writes Kwaneta Harris from her solitary confinement cell. In addition to triple-digit heat, frequent grass fires in prison yards often go unnoticed until the smoke clouds drift into the main buildings. Staff are often forced to physically stomp out the flames resulting in melted shoes. The Appeal | According to a recent survey of over 500 people incarcerated in California, most believe that prison staff would leave them behind in the event of a climate emergency. To mitigate the effects of climate change on incarcerated people, the report’s authors suggest closing the most at-risk facilities and decreasing the state’s prison population by at least half. The Appeal 

• • •

Devalos Perkins was first placed in solitary within two weeks of his 2012 arrest in a murder case that had gone cold seven years earlier. Several psychiatric evaluations have determined Perkins is unable to stand trial due to his mental state. Despite having never been convicted of a crime, Perkins has spent the last 11 years in prison purgatory—an unending cycle of transfers between solitary confinement and psychiatric hospitals. Throughout his time at the Mecklenburg County jail in North Carolina, staff have kept meticulous records documenting Perkins’s behavioral problems and the facility’s inability to address his severe mental illness. While he has been in solitary confinement, staff have used restraint chairs, tasers, stun guns, pepper spray, and physical violence against Perkins as well as revoking his shower privileges in response to his behavioral problems. The Charlotte Observer

• • •

Bernard Jemison was sentenced to six months in solitary confinement for his prison activism. Initially, Jemison began posting videos on social media to call attention to the dangerous and dehumanizing conditions within the Alabama Department of Corrections. While incarcerated at Ventress Correctional Facility, Jemison observed a female staff member arguing with and screaming at another incarcerated person. Aware of his reputation, the female staff member began crying in fear that a potential recording of the incident would result in her losing her job. Although Jemison was not recording at the time, he was subsequently transferred to Kilby Correctional Facility where he underwent a disciplinary hearing and was placed in solitary confinement. Alabama Political Reporter

• • •

Early on in their study into the change in suicide rates in prison during the pademic, public health researchers at the COVID Prison Project hit a major obstacle. Despite combing government websites and submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, they found that most states do not adequately report data on suicides in prison. In a recent article the researchers report that only 16 states publish data usable for public health purposes. Although they are required to report deaths in custody under federal law, 13 states publish no suicide date and eight states have incomplete or outdated data. Furthermore, only six states report suicide attempts and only three states include housing status—such as placement in solitary confinement—as part of the data. According to one researcher, “this lack of trustworthy data is a prime example of our country’s apathy towards prisoners and part of a long legacy of erasure of minoritized individuals.” Undark 

• • •

Free speech is often fragile for incarcerated people. Two writers behind bars in Washington State report that high communication costs and fear of retaliation by prison staff often prevents writers from having their voices heard. While most incarcerated people are paid less than $1/hour for their labor in prison, they are required to pay $139 for access to JPay tablets and electronic stamps that cost between 17 and 32 cents each. For a non-incarcerated person this would equate to paying $8 per text message or email. Additionally, correctional officers often label incarcerated writers as threats to prison safety resulting in an increased risk that they will be placed in solitary confinement for expressing their First Amendment rights. The Appeal 

• • •

In a recent op-ed, forensic psychiatrist Terry Kupers argues that it’s time to ban the use of solitary confinement in prisons and jails. The harms of solitary confinement not only increase the likelihood of a person developing psychiatric disorders, but also decreases their ability to engage socially with other people. This results in higher rates of recidivism and physical harm among people who have spent time in solitary confinement. According to a 2021 survey five out of six people, across party lines, support limiting solitary confinement. Kupers states, “for the sake of public safety, as well as our humanity and morality, our local, state and federal governments need to embrace a true end to solitary confinement in all its forms and by all its names.” Al Jazeera 

• • •